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Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

Hello. I just wanted to ask the team if they know any health-related differences between granite vs. marble?
Someone was telling me that granite casts off negative ions?
Does someone here know?
Please advise.
Teeeeeena Weeeeena

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

“Granite is a natural mineral formed by earth's geology,” the statement continues. “It is mined and used to produce commercial products such as countertops. It is possible for any granite sample to contain varying concentrations of uranium that can produce radon gas. Some granite used in countertops may contribute variably to indoor radon levels. However, EPA has no reliable data to conclude that types of granite used in countertops are significantly increasing indoor radon levels.”

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

If you do a mercola.com search on either radon or granite, you may locate an article he ran quite a long time ago on this topic. Of course the fear-mongering headline told you to avoid granite countertops "like the plague" but in my eyes it was mostly scare tactics based on little evidence. My objection to granite countertops: it's trendy, like harvest gold and avocado green kitchen appliances were in the 70s. By the time you want to sell your house, granite may be really passé.

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

My objection to granite countertops: it's trendy, like harvest gold and avocado green kitchen appliances were in the 70s. By the time you want to sell your house, granite may be really passé.

My thoughts exactly.

I watch a number of shows where people are either buying their first home or relocating. I enjoy them because i enjoy the house tours and seeing what prices are in other parts of the country. It is amazing to me how many people walk into a perfectly functional but obviously 80s kitchen and say, "Oh no! This has got to go! I can't live with this." They gut it, and put in what is fashionable now.

Of course, when they get ready to sell (if they can hang on to it at all after paying for the upgrades and high cost) it will be just as dated.

I'd love to do some minor upgrades in my kitchen that is original to this 1977 house, but i'm not going to jeopardize our future that way.

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

Ocean - that is funny! I am not a fan of granite - I think it is cold but that said it is certainly very easy to keep clean here in my daughter's kitchen. She has inherited granite surfaces but is of course stuck with them.

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

Originally Posted by Jane Chitty

Ocean - that is funny! I am not a fan of granite - I think it is cold but that said it is certainly very easy to keep clean here in my daughter's kitchen. She has inherited granite surfaces but is of course stuck with them.

I have old-fashioned formica countertops and it's going to stay that way. I think the granite looks loverly, but most of the prettiest colors are also the darkest, and my kitchen is already too dark. I installed under-cabinet lighting a few years ago because as my eyesight gets worse, I can't function well and can't read my recipe cards and cookbooks very well (at least that was a good excuse for any flops or kitchen blunders). Most of the time I cook by the seat of my pants and don't even follow a recipe, but the mind goes, too, and I can't always do that very successfully anymore. Arg.

But I think it's pretty. Also, as someone said above, it will date the place, too.

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

Thank you, ladies. I appreciate your input.
Well, I am currently looking for a home. For me, the most important room is the kitchen; I love to cook! I have been saving my pennies, and I have a laundry list of things that I would really love to have in the kitchen. Unfortunately, my budget restricts me to pick between a few items. I love the SubZero refrigerators, and the Wolf ovens. Yet, to have everything is impossible. I must decide what is more important; the stove and fridge, or the countertops. The deciding point would have been if the granite is bad for you, or not.
Ocean for kids- I too, love an austere appearance. If I do get the granite over the fridge/stove, it will be black with green speckles.
Ooooohhhhh have you guys seen hand-scraped hardwood floors before? Unfortunately, it is waaaaay out of my budget.
It sure is a drag being a plebeian.

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

My wood floors have been naturally scraped by 30 years of children (and adults with farm boots) abusing them. Some people pay through the nose for that abused, distressed look.

After the divorce, when I put the house on the market (ended up keeping it, long story), the only sorry-looking thing in the kitchen was the countertop. I shopped around, did some pricing, and ended up with something affordable for me, the next step up from formica, but alas, I chose a solid color. Huge mistake. I believe all granite and many other materials are speckled, spattered, dotted, spotted or otherwise variegated, and that is what I strongly advise. You can see a dust mote on my brick-red countertop from ten paces.

Re: Is granite bad for you? Is marble preferable?

We live in an area with a lot of decomposing granite. When we built our house we put in a radon protection system just for good measure.

Katee, I've watched many of those shows too (husband likes them) and I agree with you. The buyers walk into a perfectly decent, but slightly dated kitchen, and they wrinkle their noses like it's revolting. Ten, 15 years down the road they'll get to see that same expression on people looking at their house. If I'm going to update a room I'd do the bathroom first. When it comes to kitchens I want lots of room because the four of us invariably want to be in there are the same time even though not one of us likes to cook. Oh, yea, and I want a big fridge and a goose neck faucet.

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